HONG KONG, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the World Trade Organization said Sunday that he did not expect Russia and Ukraine to complete their accession talks by the 6th ministerial meeting in mid-December. WTO Director General Pascal Lami said Saudi Arabia is the only aspirant likely to complete its accession talks by the time the economics ministers of member countries gather in Hong Kong for their week-long session.
Earlier this month, senior Russian government officials reiterated their resolve to get through with the accession talks before year's end. Kimmo Sasi, PACE Rapporteur on Economic Development of Russia, said the deadline would be hard, but not impossible, to meet.
